


Repose

by Owlship



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Episode: s08e03 The Long Night, ambiguously platonic, let them rest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 16:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18705625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owlship/pseuds/Owlship
Summary: The living dead fall, and they don't get back up. When Jaime realizes this he looks around- first out at the ruined courtyard to confirm his suspicion that the battle has somehow ended without him dying first, then towards Brienne.





	Repose

**Author's Note:**

> Written in response to [this post](https://dreadwulf.tumblr.com/post/184597270574/i-see-all-of-your-cleaning-up-after-battle-bets) b/c my friend said someone should write it: "I see all of your "cleaning up after battle" bets and raise you "collapsed in a quiet corner, still a mess, Brienne exhausted with her head on Jaime’s shoulder and him not moving a single muscle because he doesn’t want to wake her up""
> 
> Originally posted [on tumblr](https://v8roadworrier.tumblr.com/post/184609580841/dreadwulf-i-see-all-of-your-cleaning-up-after)!

The living dead fall, and they don't get back up. When Jaime realizes this he looks around- first out at the ruined courtyard to confirm his suspicion that the battle has somehow ended without him dying first, then towards Brienne.

She's looking back at him, eyes wide, mouth parted as she pants. Then her gaze slides past him and he whirls, heart pounding- but she's only looking to her squire, listing against the wall.

Jaime stabs his sword into a corpse near his feet and it doesn't react; he wipes his filthy blade on the side of his filthy jerkin and slides it into its sheath.

"The Night King must be dead," Brienne says, her voice a harsh rasp after all that grunting and yelling she'd been doing during the battle.

He nods wearily, and they prop Podrick up between them as they limp towards the Godswood, collecting survivors as they go quite without trying. In a circle of dead men three of the Starks stand- well, Arya stands, Snow kneels, and Bran of course sits in his chair- clutching each other. Even strange, distant Bran is part of the embrace.

The Starks' heads snap up at the approach of the survivors, and Jon Snow says, "Arya killed the Night King," his voice bursting with pride.

"Well done," Jaime says, too tired and too dazed by his continued survival to be sarcastic. There had been a dragon's corpse that they passed along the way, and he isn't sure if it was one of theirs or not.

"Sansa," Brienne says, jolting in place as if struck. She exchanges a look with Snow and then shoves Podrick towards Jaime, as if he'll take the boy and let her run off out of his sight after a battle like that. Jaime pushes Podrick towards someone else and starts gamely hobbling after her, slowed down by how he's starting to really feel his injuries.

They meet the survivors of the crypt halfway there, and Jaime nearly kneels down in relief to be able to still hug his brother, except if he goes to his knees now he knows he isn't going to be able to get back up for quite a long time.

"Lady Sansa," Brienne says with clear relief in her voice, all but ignored as Snow tells Sansa about Arya's victory.

"Are you all that's left, then?" Tyrion says.

Jaime shakes his head. "There's more gathering in the Godswood."

"We should direct people to the Great Hall instead," Sansa says in a voice that brooks no arguments. "We'll need to see to the wounded before we do anything else."

Brienne follows Sansa and of course Jaime follows Brienne, getting set to the task of gathering more survivors. His vision wavers in and out of focus as he picks through the piles of bodies for living men, his grip weak and slick with blood when he hoists them up to drag to the Great Hall.

All he wants to do is sleep, and perhaps wash off the filth that's caked to every surface of his body, but he can't stop moving to follow Brienne, can't let her out of his sight after surviving that battle by her side.

At some point after the sun has risen weak and pale and _beautiful_ he finds her leaning against the wall, her eyes half-lidded and distant, and he reaches out to her lightly, pulling out of her reach even before she jerks back awake.

"You need rest," Jaime says, hoping she reads in the words that _he_ needs rest, and he isn't going to get it until she does.

"There's still so much to do," she replies with a stubborn shake of her head.

"Just a few hours," he says coaxingly. "It's all maester's work from here on out, anyway."

She frowns, and looks around the Great Hall, stuffed to the gills with wounded and dying men laid out on the bare rushes. They found the last survivor an hour ago, and with the cold of winter, are unlikely to find any more _now_.

Then Brienne sighs, and slumps down against the wall right where she stands, armor creaking and scraping down the stone as she all but falls.

He had rather hoped she'd retreat to her actual room, but Jaime is just as exhausted- more so, maybe, since he's past his prime and fighting with only his off hand- and he simply moves to sit down next to her.

They sit in silence for a while as people move around them, stepping over their outstretched legs when necessary. He's startled out of a waking doze when he feels a weight on his shoulder, and he cranes his neck to see Brienne, her eyes closed, head leaning against his shoulder.

It can't be comfortable for her, he thinks, but her breathing has the deep even pattern of someone asleep. Jaime stares down at her, the gore and ash still crusted on every inch of her, her hand resting on the hilt of Oathkeeper pressed between their bodies.

He sighs inaudibly, and twists his head just enough to brush his lips against her sweat-and-blood matted hair.

Between one blink and the next, he's following her into sleep.


End file.
